Speaking of The Future, I had a bit of a surreal experience day before yesterday. I went to a park downtown with a book to read (part of my old retired fart routine), and was initially puzzled by the fact that half the people there seemed to be wandering around (usually in pairs, usually pairs of guys) staring at their smartphones, and it occurred to me that they were all playing this game I'd just seen an article about called Pokemon Go, which has apparently become all the rage mere days after its release (it's also stirred up some controversy over privacy concerns).
I asked one of the guys who wandered by close enough to talk to if he was playing "that new Pokemon Go thing" and sure enough that's exactly what he was doing.
Not only in the park, but as I was walking home there were more people walking down the street clearly playing the game.
The madness continues today. ;->
Seriously, it's like something out of Vinge's _Rainbows End_.
> I went to a park downtown with a book to read. . .
. . .which just happened to be another volume of Olaf Stapledon.
--------------- ACTOR (with American accent): Hullo 1931! That you? A.D. 2500 calling. I've got to tell you a bit about things in my day, 500 years after yours. I'll start right in by saying that everything with us is just about 200% better than with you. We're far more intelligent, far more vital. We gotta be, to stand the racket. And we're 163% more spiritual, too, let me tell you. Every one of our churches is nearly twice as beautiful and many times higher than Saint Paul's Cathedral. In fact everything of ours is much bigger and faster than everything of yours, including our minds. And -- gosh, there's one of my wives butting in. Now then Bobo, just blow a kiss into the microphone and quit.
ACTRESS (with American accent): Hullo duckies! (Sound of a kiss) Say! Are you the Crinoline Period? Or was it bustles, or harems, or pajamas, or cute little skirts? I was never any good at history. You ought to see my latest gown. The train of it's so long I've gotta have two gasoline motors to carry it. And the collar comes right up to the eyes.
ACTOR: That's enough, Bobo. Say, you prehistoric Britishers, what price our English idiom? We had to learn it up specially to communicate with you guys. In my time we all speak American of course, modern American, I mean. Guess **your** Americans couldn't understand us when we're talking together. (Pause) Now boys, I gotta introduce you to a lot of our important personages. And the first here's the President of the World Republic. (Announcing) His Supreme Superlativity will now --
THE FUTURE MAN: Stop! Stop this play-acting! . . . Silence! No more of that farce! You're a twentieth century Englishman, engaged by the BBC to broadcast in a play which I say shall not proceed. . .
All you men and women of the planet Earth who happen to be listening in tonight, listen well! . . .
Your play-acting is over for tonight. England is going to have something else, instead of that cheap fantasy of five hundred years hence. The listeners shall hear the actual voice of a future incomparably more remote. I am speaking to you out of an age two thousand million years after your day. Realize what that means. The gulf that divides us is two thousand times wider than that which divides you from the ape-men of the past. . .
ACTOR: The man's mad. If I could reach the window, I'd call the police, but I can't move, I can't move.
ACTRESS (hysterically): I've got cramp all over.
ACTOR: It's probably some damned young undergraduate playing a practical joke on the BBC. . .
FUTURE MAN: I must paralyze your speech organs too, I see. . . Members of the First Human Species! I, a member of the Eighteenth Human Species, address you across the ages. . . ====
-- "Far Future Calling", unproduced radio adaptation of _Last and First Men_
Hm. In the printed paper, the article's title was "Silicon Valley Swoons Over Artificial Intelligence".
So, was that a "changed to" or a "changed from"?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/technology/on-wheels-and-wings-artificial-intelligence-swarms-silicon-valley.html -------------- Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels By JOHN MARKOFF JULY 17, 2016
. . .
Funding in A.I. start-ups has increased more than fourfold to $681 million in 2015, from $145 million in 2011, according to the market research firm CB Insights. The firm estimates that new investments will reach $1.2 billion this year, up 76 percent from last year. . .
Silicon Valley’s new A.I. era underscores the region’s ability to opportunistically reinvent itself and quickly follow the latest tech trend.
“This is at the heart of the region’s culture that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush,” said Paul Saffo, a longtime technology forecaster and a faculty member at Singularity University. . .
In the most recent shift, the A.I. idea emerged first in Canada in the work of cognitive scientists and computer scientists like Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun during the previous decade. The three helped pioneer a new approach to deep learning, a machine learning method that is highly effective for pattern recognition challenges like vision and speech. . .
How far the A.I. boom will go is hotly debated. For some technologists, today’s technical advances are laying the groundwork for truly brilliant machines that will soon have human-level intelligence.
Yet Silicon Valley has faced false starts with A.I. before. During the 1980s, an earlier generation of entrepreneurs also believed that artificial intelligence was the wave of the future, leading to a flurry of start-ups. Their products offered little business value at the time, and so the commercial enthusiasm ended in disappointment, leading to a period now referred to as the “A.I. Winter.”
The current resurgence will not fall short this time, said several investors, who believe that the economic potential in terms of new efficiency and new applications is strong.
“There is no chance of a new winter,” said Shivon Zilis, an investor at Bloomberg Beta who specializes in machine intelligence start-ups. . .
For others, like Jerry Kaplan, who helped found two A.I. companies in the 1980s — Symantec, which became a security company, and Teknowledge, which ultimately shut down — the Valley’s new enthusiasm is troubling because it suggests an unfounded optimism similar to earlier eras in which the field overpromised and underdelivered.
“Sometimes when I hang around with A.I. enthusiasts here in the valley, I feel like an atheist at a convention of evangelicals,” he said. ====
When you're hot, you're hot. When you're not, you're not.
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/Hanson20160719 ----------- The Age of Em: 1 Year After We Upload Ourselves to The Internet Robin Hanson Future Thinkers Posted: Jul 19, 2016 ====
Sometimes I wonder if I haven't **already** been uploaded to "The Internet".
I'm pretty sure the print edition of this article had the title "Silicon Valley Swoons Over Artificial Intelligence". Was that a "changed to" or a "changed from", do you suppose?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/technology/on-wheels-and-wings-artificial-intelligence-swarms-silicon-valley.html ----------------- Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels By JOHN MARKOFF JULY 17, 2016
. . .
Funding in A.I. start-ups has increased more than fourfold to $681 million in 2015, from $145 million in 2011, according to the market research firm CB Insights. The firm estimates that new investments will reach $1.2 billion this year, up 76 percent from last year. . .
“This is at the heart of the region’s culture that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush,” said Paul Saffo, a longtime technology forecaster and a faculty member at Singularity University. . .
In the most recent shift, the A.I. idea emerged first in Canada in the work of cognitive scientists and computer scientists like Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun during the previous decade. The three helped pioneer a new approach to deep learning. . .
How far the A.I. boom will go is hotly debated. For some technologists, today’s technical advances are laying the groundwork for truly brilliant machines that will soon have human-level intelligence.
Yet Silicon Valley has faced false starts with A.I. before. During the 1980s, an earlier generation of entrepreneurs also believed that artificial intelligence was the wave of the future, leading to a flurry of start-ups. Their products offered little business value at the time, and so the commercial enthusiasm ended in disappointment, leading to a period now referred to as the “A.I. Winter.”
The current resurgence will not fall short this time, said several investors, who believe that the economic potential in terms of new efficiency and new applications is strong.
“There is no chance of a new winter,” said Shivon Zilis, an investor at Bloomberg Beta who specializes in machine intelligence start-ups. . .
For others, like Jerry Kaplan, who helped found two A.I. companies in the 1980s — Symantec, which became a security company, and Teknowledge, which ultimately shut down — the Valley’s new enthusiasm is troubling because it suggests an unfounded optimism similar to earlier eras in which the field overpromised and underdelivered. . .
“Sometimes when I hang around with A.I. enthusiasts here in the valley, I feel like an atheist at a convention of evangelicals,” he said. ====
When you're hot you're hot. When you're not you're not. Put all the money in and let's roll 'em again. When you're hot you're hot!
> Footure!
ReplyDeleteCouture!
http://www.emptykingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Syd-Mead-31.jpg
LOL! Spot on! --Katie L.
ReplyDeleteThat Syd Mead scene needs a soundtrack -- may I suggest: https://youtu.be/tbszrX_cUs8
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of The Future, I had a bit of a surreal experience
ReplyDeleteday before yesterday. I went to a park downtown with a book
to read (part of my old retired fart routine), and was
initially puzzled by the fact that half the people there
seemed to be wandering around (usually in pairs, usually
pairs of guys) staring at their smartphones, and it occurred
to me that they were all playing this game I'd just seen an
article about called Pokemon Go, which has apparently
become all the rage mere days after its release (it's
also stirred up some controversy over privacy concerns).
I asked one of the guys who wandered by close enough to
talk to if he was playing "that new Pokemon Go thing" and
sure enough that's exactly what he was doing.
Not only in the park, but as I was walking home there were
more people walking down the street clearly playing the
game.
The madness continues today. ;->
Seriously, it's like something out of Vinge's _Rainbows End_.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2016/07/14/the-future-of-augmented-reality/
AR phone-Potemkinization will be great for making climate refugee camps more fun.
ReplyDelete> I went to a park downtown with a book to read. . .
ReplyDelete. . .which just happened to be another volume of Olaf Stapledon.
---------------
ACTOR (with American accent): Hullo 1931! That you?
A.D. 2500 calling. I've got to tell you a bit about things
in my day, 500 years after yours. I'll start right in by
saying that everything with us is just about 200% better
than with you. We're far more intelligent, far more vital.
We gotta be, to stand the racket. And we're 163% more spiritual,
too, let me tell you. Every one of our churches is nearly
twice as beautiful and many times higher than Saint Paul's
Cathedral. In fact everything of ours is much bigger and
faster than everything of yours, including our minds.
And -- gosh, there's one of my wives butting in. Now then
Bobo, just blow a kiss into the microphone and quit.
ACTRESS (with American accent): Hullo duckies! (Sound of a kiss)
Say! Are you the Crinoline Period? Or was it bustles, or
harems, or pajamas, or cute little skirts? I was never any
good at history. You ought to see my latest gown. The train
of it's so long I've gotta have two gasoline motors to carry it.
And the collar comes right up to the eyes.
ACTOR: That's enough, Bobo. Say, you prehistoric Britishers,
what price our English idiom? We had to learn it up specially
to communicate with you guys. In my time we all speak American
of course, modern American, I mean. Guess **your** Americans
couldn't understand us when we're talking together. (Pause)
Now boys, I gotta introduce you to a lot of our important
personages. And the first here's the President of the
World Republic. (Announcing) His Supreme Superlativity will
now --
THE FUTURE MAN: Stop! Stop this play-acting! . . .
Silence! No more of that farce! You're a twentieth century
Englishman, engaged by the BBC to broadcast in a play which I
say shall not proceed. . .
All you men and women of the planet Earth who happen to be listening
in tonight, listen well! . . .
Your play-acting is over for tonight. England is going to have
something else, instead of that cheap fantasy of five hundred
years hence. The listeners shall hear the actual voice of a future
incomparably more remote. I am speaking to you out of an age
two thousand million years after your day. Realize what that
means. The gulf that divides us is two thousand times wider than
that which divides you from the ape-men of the past. . .
ACTOR: The man's mad. If I could reach the window, I'd
call the police, but I can't move, I can't move.
ACTRESS (hysterically): I've got cramp all over.
ACTOR: It's probably some damned young undergraduate playing
a practical joke on the BBC. . .
FUTURE MAN: I must paralyze your speech organs too, I see. . .
Members of the First Human Species! I, a member of the Eighteenth
Human Species, address you across the ages. . .
====
-- "Far Future Calling", unproduced radio adaptation of
_Last and First Men_
Please stand by!
;->
Hm. In the printed paper, the article's title was
ReplyDelete"Silicon Valley Swoons Over Artificial Intelligence".
So, was that a "changed to" or a "changed from"?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/technology/on-wheels-and-wings-artificial-intelligence-swarms-silicon-valley.html
--------------
Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels
By JOHN MARKOFF
JULY 17, 2016
. . .
Funding in A.I. start-ups has increased more than fourfold to
$681 million in 2015, from $145 million in 2011, according to
the market research firm CB Insights. The firm estimates
that new investments will reach $1.2 billion this year,
up 76 percent from last year. . .
Silicon Valley’s new A.I. era underscores the region’s ability
to opportunistically reinvent itself and quickly follow the
latest tech trend.
“This is at the heart of the region’s culture that goes all the
way back to the Gold Rush,” said Paul Saffo, a longtime
technology forecaster and a faculty member at Singularity University. . .
In the most recent shift, the A.I. idea emerged first in Canada
in the work of cognitive scientists and computer scientists like
Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun during the previous
decade. The three helped pioneer a new approach to deep learning,
a machine learning method that is highly effective for pattern
recognition challenges like vision and speech. . .
How far the A.I. boom will go is hotly debated. For some technologists,
today’s technical advances are laying the groundwork for truly
brilliant machines that will soon have human-level intelligence.
Yet Silicon Valley has faced false starts with A.I. before. During
the 1980s, an earlier generation of entrepreneurs also believed
that artificial intelligence was the wave of the future, leading
to a flurry of start-ups. Their products offered little business
value at the time, and so the commercial enthusiasm ended in
disappointment, leading to a period now referred to as the
“A.I. Winter.”
The current resurgence will not fall short this time, said several
investors, who believe that the economic potential in terms of new
efficiency and new applications is strong.
“There is no chance of a new winter,” said Shivon Zilis, an investor
at Bloomberg Beta who specializes in machine intelligence start-ups. . .
For others, like Jerry Kaplan, who helped found two A.I. companies
in the 1980s — Symantec, which became a security company, and Teknowledge,
which ultimately shut down — the Valley’s new enthusiasm is troubling
because it suggests an unfounded optimism similar to earlier eras
in which the field overpromised and underdelivered.
“Sometimes when I hang around with A.I. enthusiasts here in the valley,
I feel like an atheist at a convention of evangelicals,” he said.
====
When you're hot, you're hot. When you're not, you're not.
Put all the money in and lets roll 'em again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rdF7o08KXw
More Very Serious reasons to take Sam Harris Very Seriously.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfpq_CIFDjg
Sam Harris on Free Will, Spirituality, and Artificial Intelligence
The Rubin Report
Jul 15, 2016
45:23/1:01:33
Seriously. Or just wait for the TED talk to be posted.
He's awfully late to this party. I guess we can blame
Nick Bostrom. (That he's here at all, I mean, not for
the lateness. ;-> )
This sounds like it would be right up Sam Harris'
ReplyDeletealley:
Facial Software Can Tell If You’re A Pedophile
[or a terrorist, apparently]
The Young Turks
May 24, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfmIwk59F7o
I've heard of "gay face", but this is ridiculous.
;->
Auntie Em, Auntie Em, where are you?
ReplyDeleteI'm frightened, Auntie Em!
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/Hanson20160719
-----------
The Age of Em: 1 Year After We Upload Ourselves to The Internet
Robin Hanson
Future Thinkers
Posted: Jul 19, 2016
====
Sometimes I wonder if I haven't **already** been uploaded
to "The Internet".
I'm pretty sure the print edition of this article had the
ReplyDeletetitle "Silicon Valley Swoons Over Artificial Intelligence".
Was that a "changed to" or a "changed from", do you
suppose?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/technology/on-wheels-and-wings-artificial-intelligence-swarms-silicon-valley.html
-----------------
Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels
By JOHN MARKOFF
JULY 17, 2016
. . .
Funding in A.I. start-ups has increased more than fourfold to
$681 million in 2015, from $145 million in 2011, according
to the market research firm CB Insights. The firm estimates
that new investments will reach $1.2 billion this year,
up 76 percent from last year. . .
“This is at the heart of the region’s culture that goes
all the way back to the Gold Rush,” said Paul Saffo, a
longtime technology forecaster and a faculty member at
Singularity University. . .
In the most recent shift, the A.I. idea emerged first in
Canada in the work of cognitive scientists and computer
scientists like Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and
Yann LeCun during the previous decade. The three helped
pioneer a new approach to deep learning. . .
How far the A.I. boom will go is hotly debated. For some
technologists, today’s technical advances are laying the
groundwork for truly brilliant machines that will soon
have human-level intelligence.
Yet Silicon Valley has faced false starts with A.I. before.
During the 1980s, an earlier generation of entrepreneurs also
believed that artificial intelligence was the wave of the future,
leading to a flurry of start-ups. Their products offered
little business value at the time, and so the commercial enthusiasm
ended in disappointment, leading to a period now referred to as
the “A.I. Winter.”
The current resurgence will not fall short this time, said
several investors, who believe that the economic potential in
terms of new efficiency and new applications is strong.
“There is no chance of a new winter,” said Shivon Zilis, an
investor at Bloomberg Beta who specializes in machine intelligence
start-ups. . .
For others, like Jerry Kaplan, who helped found two A.I.
companies in the 1980s — Symantec, which became a security
company, and Teknowledge, which ultimately shut down — the Valley’s
new enthusiasm is troubling because it suggests an unfounded
optimism similar to earlier eras in which the field overpromised
and underdelivered. . .
“Sometimes when I hang around with A.I. enthusiasts here in the
valley, I feel like an atheist at a convention of evangelicals,”
he said.
====
When you're hot you're hot. When you're not you're not.
Put all the money in and let's roll 'em again.
When you're hot you're hot!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rdF7o08KXw